Born: 15 May 1947 in the city of Zhambyl in Zhambyl Province

Married with two children

1970 -- graduation from the Ural Polytechnic Institute

1970-72 -- army service

1972-76 -- chief engineer, engineer-construction worker at Alma-Ata heavy-machinery factory

1976-80 -- departmental chief in the Auezov regional party committee

1980-84 -- instructor at Central Committee of Communist Party of Kazakh SSR

1984-85 -- aide to the secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakh SSR

1985 -- completion of Alma-Ata Higher Party School

1985-88 -- first secretary of the Frunze regional party committee

1989-90 -- aide to the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR

1990-91 -- head of the presidential administration

1991-94 -- head of the presidential and cabinet administration for Republic of Kazakhstan

1994-95 -- head of the presidential apparatus

1995-96 -- Kazakh ambassador to the United Kingdom

1998-99 -- chairman of National Security Committee (resigns over illegal sale of MiGs to North Korea)

2000 -- first deputy foreign minister for Kazakhstan